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Canseco and Hurd previously ran against each other in the Republican primary for the seat in 2010, from which Canseco emerged victorious and went on to take the seat during the general election. Canseco was upended by Gallego in 2012.

“I think the thing that has changed the most [since 2010] is that I’ve gotten a little smarter and a little more experienced. We built an organization that was prepared to fight in the run off,” Hurd told POLITICO Tuesday evening.“Folks in this district are tired of career politicians, and they’re looking forward to someone new that has expertise. I’m doing this to be a representative, not a congressman.”

Canseco called Hurd within minutes of the AP call to “congratulate me on a good race,” said Hurd.

Even as the campaign was underway, GOP strategists criticized Canseco’s team for not approaching the election more aggressively and expressed concern over his ability to put up a strong fight against Gallego in November’s general election. Indeed, the former congressman for the most part failed to raise money from individual contributions, bringing in only $30,000 during the pre-runoff period between April 1 and May 7. Hurd, by contrast, raised more than $90,000 during that period.

The 23rd District is easily the most competitive in the state. Although Gallego took the seat in 2012, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won the district in 2012 against President Barack Obama, 51 percent to 48 percent. And Democrats are hoping that the hard-right positions taken by the candidates during the primary will negatively affect them in November.

“We were pleased with how the whole thing played out,” said Anthony Gutierrez, Gallego’s campaign manager. “Quico really went far to the right [in 2012] to see if that what would appeal to the makeup of the district, and it didn’t work. These are the same unpopular positions that didn’t work then.”